


Safe

by confundere



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16555340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confundere/pseuds/confundere
Summary: It's post-Reaper war and Kaidan and Shepard finally get their chance to rest.  Also bad puns ensue.  A small one-shot I wrote in honour of N7 day.





	Safe

It was a miracle the farmhouse was still standing.

She had stared out at the fields on the way out there, the roads of British Columbia still winding around the mountains, through the valleys, as if nothing had happened.  As if there was no invasion.  But the lie was in the air; in the little details scattered around them like broken promises.  The apples that covered the ground of the orchard were green, shook from the tree before they were ready like one hell of a metaphor.  

Persephone Shepard ran her fingers over the now darkened drapery and wondered how long the world was going to smell like ash.

The hardwood floors creaked as her wheelchair rolled over them but they were still solid.  Dust coated the floors and walls, dishonest and grey as if there had been no one there for a month.

The pots in the sink told a different story.  The room glowed blue and she pulled a lone piece of paper from the kitchen counter.

 _We'll be back soon._  It said.

They had been there.

They had made it.

She held the note to her chest.

The last time she was at the farm house was almost three years ago.  A small vacation of refuge and victory.

Before she died.

Shepard was tired of dying.

She was ready to start living.

 

"Kaidan, your parents were here."

The door hinges creaked again and Kaidan appeared behind her, a smile crossing his lips.

"I knew they would make it."

She hummed in affirmation as he pressed a kissed to her temple.

"How long?"

"I think they were here a week ago." she responded glancing over the room.

“That’s good.”

 

Kaidan set out cleaning up as best he could but there was debris that had settled into the cracks of the floorboards and the grout.  Shepard helped where she could, still not as proficient as she wanted to be on her prosthetic.  

Kaidan didn’t care. He was just happy they were both safe.

 _Safe_.  He kept rolling that word around on his tongue.  It was permanent this time.

He had gotten word from his parents, they were in a good location and currently trying to find transportation to the orchard.  Kaidan had offered to go pick them up but they declined.  They were safe.

Safe.

He looked over at Seph, currently lounging on the couch, reading one of the outdated  _Reader's Digests_  his Dad loved so much.

Safe.

 

"Hey Kaidan?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna hear a terrible joke?"

He chuckled. "Sure."

"Paper."

"What?"

"Pretty _tear_ -able, huh?" she said with a wink.

"Oh no."

She licked her finger and turned the page. "Oh, here's another one. There was a guy who got his entire left side cut off.  Don’t worry, he is all right now."

Kaidan shook his head. "That joke is at least a hundred years old, y'know?"  

But she had more.

"An atom loses an electron… It says, “Man, I really gotta keep an ion them.”"

"Oh, god."

"What-" she started but he jumped in.

"What did the beach say as the tide came in?" he asked.

She laughed and tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Hm, what did the beach say?"

"Long time, no sea." he grinned.

More laughing, and he felt a bubble of happiness well up in his chest.

"We should go to the beach soon." she said, looking over him with her head tilted to the side.  There were sparkles in her eyes now and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Kaidan settled beside her on the couch and she tossed the flannel blanket over to cover the two of them.

"Yeah," he replied. "Soon."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Happy N7 day!


End file.
